


aho new world

by cjmasim



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Aladdin (1992) References, Alternate Timelines, Crack Treated Seriously, Fantasy Hockey, Gen, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-02-20
Packaged: 2019-11-01 05:28:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17861204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cjmasim/pseuds/cjmasim
Summary: "I don't-" Sebastian starts, but as he's looking at Teuvo, he notices what's hanging behind him and freezes. "What is that?"The jersey hanging behind him is not a Hurricanes jersey. It's not an All Star jersey, or Leijonat, or Karpat, or any of the other jerseys Sebastian's ever worn in his career - it's not even a real team. The jersey is blue, similar in shade to the Finnish flag, but not as bright, and decorated with gold stripes on the sleeves. It would be obnoxious enough just by virtue of the stripes, but in the center where the logo should be, there's a picture of Sebastian's actual face and he's starting to think that this must be some kind of hyper-realistic nightmare.





	aho new world

**Author's Note:**

> A while ago, I got the completely crack idea to write a fic where the players find themselves in a fantasy hockey team somehow, and the ability to use this title is the sole reason I actually wrote it. Unfortunately, I didn't actually come up with the title; I borrowed it from a Reddit comment that I've since lost, as I originally only used it as a name for my team in a small fantasy league. (Yes, the characters are just the players on one of my fantasy teams lmao.)
> 
> Because I will do anything to procrastinate, I actually made a mock-up of the jerseys described near the beginning of the fic. If you want to see those, well, [here](http://cjmasim.tumblr.com/post/182933241356) they are. Disclaimer that I've never designed jerseys before and wasn’t taking this too seriously, but also, they are supposed to be bad. (And yeah, I initially forgot to add the C and didn't feel like deleting the text layer just to make room, so it's a bit small. Oh well.)
> 
> Obviously, this is all very much fictional, and if you see the name of you or someone you know personally, it's really best if you don't read this. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Sebastian doesn't know how he ended up here.

He's in the locker room, which is a pretty common sight for him, except that it's just - not. As soon as he turns his head to see Milan Lucic in the stall next to him, he knows that something is very, very wrong. He shuts his eyes, willing it to have just been a hallucination fueled by a lack of sleep, but when he opens them again, Lucic is still there, looking across the room as he laughs at something said by - by William Nylander?

It gets worse the longer he looks. Nylander and Lucic are indeed in the locker room with him, no hallucinations involved, and they're not the only ones. Reinhart, Werenski, Krug, Provorov, Barzal, Boeser, Hall, Giordano, Sidney Crosby - this isn't his team. Not at all. Over in the corner where Petr and Mac usually sit, he sees Bobrovsky and Gibson, and yeah, maybe if it were just Bobrovsky, he'd be asking if he missed a trade, but Gibson too? 

It doesn't take long to realize that he's not alone, though. To his right is Teuvo, just like always, and across the room he sees Ferland and Slavin as well. He hasn't lost all his teammates. Besides, he reasons, if anyone will know what happened, it'll be Teuvo.

"Turbo," he says, and Teuvo looks up from the stick he'd been taping. "What the fuck?"

Teuvo's eyebrows shoot up, and Sebastian is met with the crushing realization that Teuvo has no idea that something is wrong before he even speaks.

"If this is about last night," Teuvo says, and Sebastian feels like he's going to be sick. He has no idea what happened last night - well, he does, but he's pretty sure Teuvo isn't referring to the two of them playing FIFA and cuddling while Sebastian wondered whether it meant they could be anything more than friends - but from Teuvo's tone, he knows it's nothing he'd want to talk about. 

"I don't-" Sebastian starts, but as he's looking at Teuvo, he notices what's hanging behind him and freezes. "What is that?" 

The jersey hanging behind him is not a Hurricanes jersey. It's not an All Star jersey, or Leijonat, or Karpat, or any of the other jerseys Sebastian's ever worn in his career - it's not even a real team. The jersey is blue, similar in shade to the Finnish flag, but not as bright, and decorated with gold stripes on the sleeves. It would be obnoxious enough just by virtue of the stripes, but in the center where the logo should be, there's a picture of Sebastian's actual face and he's starting to think that this must be some kind of hyper-realistic nightmare.

It's not even a good picture - it's his roster photo, and of course he's making the most painful face, and he'd very clearly put too much gel in his hair that day. Even worse, there's text around the picture reading "Aho New World" in glittery gold Comic Sans. There's an A in the corner in the same font, though it's smaller - Sebastian is sure Foegs would pull out the "graphic design is my passion" meme upon seeing this monstrosity - and if this were a slightly less horrifying situation, he would be proud of Teuvo for getting the recognition he deserves, but -

"'Aho New World?' What the hell -"

"It's our team, Sepe," Teuvo says, and he sounds - concerned? Sebastian doesn't think he's ever heard him sound concerned. "Did you hit your head this morning? Are you - do you need to see the trainer?"

"What? No, I'm fine," Sebastian insists, and it's the truth. Well. To the best of his knowledge, anyway, because it's not like he actually knows what is going on here, and what if - 

He looks around the locker room again, and nothing is spinning. He knows he didn't hit his head. He's not even in pain. It's just a dream, or - something.

Sebastian turns back to Teuvo, and his eyes catch his own jersey. It's identical to Teuvo's, of course, except that there's a C on it.

"I'm the captain?" He doesn't mean to say it, knowing that Teuvo doesn't know anything's wrong, but he really hadn't been expecting that. "I don't - I don't even have an A."

"Seb, really, that doesn't sound like you're okay-"

"Teuvo," Sebastian says, and he's surprised when that's all it takes to make him stop. "This isn't my team. This isn't your team, either, or anyone's, it's - it's not even a real team. I play for the Carolina Hurricanes, and so do you and Ferly and Slavo, and the rest of these guys are not our teammates. And those aren't our jerseys, they're - ours are a lot nicer. They're red, but our alternates are gray, and - you don't believe me, do you?" Teuvo shakes his head. "I swear, I don't know how I got here, but if you just trust me-"

"Seb, I love you," Teuvo says, and Sebastian's heart nearly stops. "I - I want to believe you, but you're scaring me. Are you sure you didn't-?"

"I'm fine," he says again, even as he knows Teuvo won't listen.

"You need to see the trainer at least," Teuvo says, reaching for his hand as though he's afraid Sebastian won't be able to walk out of the locker room by himself. "Maybe something more, I don't know, but just - come with me, please."

Sebastian obliges, because really, what other choice does he have? They'll run some tests and find nothing wrong, and maybe then, Teuvo will believe him. Maybe then, they can figure out how to get back to the real world, or he'll just wake up - either one works.

-

They walk out of the locker room, still holding hands - and really, the fact that they're doing that, and that no one seems to find it out of the ordinary, is something Sebastian could certainly get used to - only to find themselves back in the locker room.

"What the fuck?" Sebastian says, and Teuvo gives him a puzzled look from the stall next to him, where he's taping a stick. 

"Something wrong?" Teuvo asks, and Sebastian realizes that somehow, it's gotten worse.

"Don't tell me you don't remember that," Sebastian says, and Teuvo raises an eyebrow in concern once again. "We just walked through that door and now we're - I swear I'm not crazy."

"Sepe, did you hit your head this morning? You're scaring me," Teuvo says.

Sebastian gets up, ignoring Teuvo calling after him to go straight for the door, walking past all the same confused not-teammates as before, and when he walks through -

He's back in his stall again. Teuvo is beside him, taping a stick as if nothing is out of the ordinary, and Lucic is on his other side, laughing at something Nylander just said.

Speaking to Teuvo clearly isn't going to get him anywhere, but he's not sure what else to do. It's not like Ferly or Slavo is any more likely to believe him. Maybe one of the other guys - but he doesn't even know most of them. 

"You ready for tonight?" Teuvo asks, startling him.

"Uh…?"

"You know, that fancy Italian place we wanted to try? It'll probably be crowded because of Valentine's, but I got us a private table in the back," Teuvo says, and Sebastian realizes he's talking about a date. The holding hands earlier - well, not earlier, exactly, but in the other timeline - had meant exactly what he'd thought it meant.

"How long have we been dating, again?" He asks, and he knows how it sounds, but he's just going to make his escape once he finds out.

"Since the beginning of the season, when we were reunited, you know that," Teuvo says, and he looks hurt. Sebastian feels bad for a moment, but this isn't real. He knows it isn't real.

When he resets, he's in his stall again, and it's almost comforting to know that there's one thing he can count on in this - whatever this is.

This time, though, he doesn't speak to Teuvo. Evidently, he's too emotionally involved to be able to help Sebastian with the actual problem here. Ideally, Williams would still be on this team, or Jordo, but in place of his actual captain, Sidney Crosby will just have to do.

"Hey Sid," Sebastian says, and it feels a little weird to address him so casually when they'd only ever spoken at the All-Star Game. Which, come to think of it, probably didn't even happen in this universe - this team seemed almost like an All-Star team taken from the whole league rather than just the Metro division.

"Oh, hey Fishy," Crosby says, as if this whole conversation wasn't already weird enough. "Something up?"

"Uh, yeah," Sebastian says, reminding himself that he does, in fact, know how to speak English, and that in this universe, he's apparently Crosby's captain. "Do you remember your draft?"

It's not exactly the question he wants to be asking, but in the real world, it would be a perfectly valid one to ask someone ten years older than him.

"My - you mean this season's draft?" Crosby asks. "I mean, sure, yeah. It was only a few months ago. I went fourth, you went, what, fifteenth? Why do you ask?"

He's not sure it's possible to ask the questions he really wants to ask without giving himself away, so he tries to keep it vague. "Oh, just wondering. How did the fans feel about me being captain, then? I - wasn't paying a lot of attention, back then."

"Come again?" Crosby asks, and Sebastian isn't even sure which part he didn't understand. "Fans?"

"Yeah, the fans," Sebastian says, and Crosby just keeps giving him a blank stare. He's starting to feel like this is all a big prank. "Like, people who like our team?" Still nothing. "Uh, you know, they come to our games, and wear our jerseys, and, uh, support us."

"You sure you're feeling alright, man? This isn't curling, you know," Crosby says, no trace of a smile or anything else to indicate that he might be joking.

"Curling," Sebastian repeats. "Uh - sorry, I'm, you know, from Finland, what - what is that again?"

It's a lame excuse, but it works. "You know, curling, the sport everyone actually watches?" Crosby's brow is furrowed, and Sebastian is struck once again by how absurd this entire situation is. "Like, we just had our Super Bowl viewing party last week. You don't remember watching New England win again?"

Sebastian nods, though he can't quite bring himself to actually say he remembers watching a Curling Super Bowl, what the fuck, that is definitely not a thing -

"Say, you feeling alright, man? You look a little pale," Crosby says.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm - I'm fine," Sebastian says, and he knows it's not really convincing, but this universe is even more screwed up than he initially thought.

-

He goes through the locker room doors again, and sure enough, Crosby seemingly forgets the entire conversation. This time, Sebastian searches through his bag until he finds his phone. At this point, he's not sure he can trust it to work, and he says a silent prayer that it does. The phone is off, but when he holds down the power button, the light comes on, and he could almost cry with relief. It may not seem like much, but at least it won't judge him for his questions.

The Wikipedia page for "Aho New World" reveals that they are indeed an NHL team. That's about all that makes any sense, though. The team doesn't have a home city, nor do any other teams; all games are played in the suburbs of Toronto in arenas that don’t have any spectator seating. This is their first year as a team, but it's their last, too - apparently, every team in the league is created just for one season, and the players are entered into the draft every year with no guarantee to be kept with certain former teammates. They play for a cash prize of $100,000 to split evenly among the team - no Stanley Cup, no ring, no fame or glory. There's no real logic to the league, but from what Sebastian can tell,  it's almost like a fantasy hockey league come to life.

And, of course, it appears that no one actually cares about the league.

He's been stuck there long enough that Sebastian doesn't really care to know any more of the specifics. He closes Wikipedia and goes straight to his contacts, searching for someone who might be able to help. None of his teammates seem to know that anything is wrong, but maybe someone else can help. He thinks about calling Jordo or Willy, since they both have plenty of experience, but he doesn't have either of their numbers. Most of his contacts are names he recognizes - Jake DeBrusk, Erik Karlsson, Shea Weber, Brayden Point - but he doesn't know any of them. Not in his world, anyway. Finally, though, he finds a name that he recognizes - Mikko Rantanen. Of course, they're both Finns, and while he doubts that hockey is popular enough in this universe to warrant international tournaments, surely all the Finns still know each other from somewhere.

Besides, Mikko had told him at the All-Star Game just a few weeks ago - in his world, anyway - that he'd seen some weird shit in his time with the Avs. He hadn't gone into detail, and Sebastian hadn't asked. He regrets that now, but all he can really do is hope that this Mikko knows even half as much as the other - no, the real Mikko apparently does.

_You ever hear of a guy stumbling into the wrong world and not being able to get out no matter how hard he tries?_

It's cryptic, and if this Mikko doesn’t know anything, he's certainly going to be very concerned. Sebastian isn't even sure walking through the locker room door again would be enough to undo the damage, considering that Mikko isn't in the room in the first place, but the text has already been sent.

 _Oh yeah, it's more common than you might think. Just got to find the key_ , he receives back within a minute.

Sebastian is glad that Mikko responded, and that he seems to know something, but -

 _The key?_ he sends.

_May or may not be a real key. Probably not, actually. Just keep looking Sepe!_

Sebastian replies with a string of question marks, and Mikko leaves him on read. Figures.

He walks up to the locker room door, thinking that maybe it's just locked. It doesn't make any sense - he's opened the doors and walked through them several times today - but maybe it's a hidden key. Or something. 

All it takes is one toe over the line for him to end up back in his stall again, Teuvo taping up a stick on his right and Lucic chatting with Nylander to his left. It's probably not a key, then.

But where does he even start? He has no idea what Mikko might want him to find - and when he checks his phone again, the texts are gone, proof that the doors reset time outside of just the locker room. He can't just send a follow-up text without going through the whole thing again, and would it even make a difference? He'll just have to start looking everywhere, and if anyone asks, he can always reset the time again. It'll take a while with no idea what to look for but, well, it's not as if he really has anything else to do.

"You okay?" Someone asks, startling Sebastian, and he looks up to see Mat Barzal. "Seem a little lost in your thoughts."

"Yeah, yeah," Sebastian replies, waving a hand dismissively. "Just - I have to find something, but I don't know what. It's in here, though." That much he's sure of - or, well, pretty sure. If it were outside the locker room, surely he'd be allowed to leave, right?

"I can help," Mat offers with a shrug and a small smile. "I mean, I don't know how much help I'd be, but why not?"

"Yeah," Sebastian says, smiling back at him for what must be the first time in this universe. "I'd like that."

"Any ideas what we're looking for?" Mat asks, glancing around as if it's just going to pop out at him.

"Something unusual, I would guess," Sebastian says. "Like, something that could unlock some secrets, maybe."

Mat raises an eyebrow, but doesn't question him. Teuvo looks over, clearly having heard the conversation, and opens his mouth, beginning to say something before Sebastian cuts him off. 

"I can't really explain," he says. He'd like to, but if he resets again, he'd have to explain the whole thing to Mat without raising any suspicions again, and he's not sure he could do it every time. "Sorry," he offers with a slight shrug.

"Okay," Teuvo says, clearly not wanting to drop it, but Sebastian thinks that he's willing to save this conversation for later. Hopefully, that won't be his problem - or anyone's. He's not quite sure whether this universe is completely fake or parallel to his own; at this point, though, it can't possibly be a dream, so there's likely an element of reality to it. "I'll help," Teuvo adds, reaching out to squeeze Sebastian's hand briefly before parting to start searching the locker room. It's - nice, he thinks. If he could keep just one thing from this universe, even if he had the option to get Crosby or Barzal on the Canes, or to be the captain, or to get to play the game he loves without having to deal with the fame it comes with, he'd keep Teuvo's love every time. 

Sebastian begins with his own stall, even though he highly doubts he'll find the answer in there. Whatever is responsible for this entire situation would probably want him to look harder than that. He moves on to Teuvo's stall, and after that, he decides it's probably not in anyone's stall, so he starts looking through and under all the cabinets. Mat's the first to find something, but it's just a commemorative puck from Boeser's supposed first goal of the season; unusual in a sense, but not special enough to be the apparent key for which they are searching. This gets the attention of everyone else in the room, though, and soon enough, everyone's searching for something.

It's Teuvo who ends up finding it - it being an ornate carpet decorated in bright, warm colors sitting in an otherwise empty cabinet in the corner of the room. Carpets are generally not found in locker rooms, but a design this intricate certainly doesn't belong in hockey, much less in the locker room of a team whose primary logo uses glittery gold Comic Sans.

"What is it, a magic carpet?" Krug yells from across the room. "Why isn't that our logo instead of Fishy's face?"

"You know the owner designs the logo," Hall yells back, and Sebastian hadn't even considered that, but now he wants more than ever to get back to his own world.

Sebastian walks over to the cabinet, pulling the carpet out. He tries to lay it down on the floor, but before he can, it begins to hover at waist height, almost as if it's waiting for him to get on.

"Okay, what the fuck?" Lucic asks. "Are you guys seeing this?"

"It's an actual magic carpet," Jaccob observes. His eyes widen after he finishes speaking, as if he's had a realization, and he immediately pulls out his phone and starts tapping furiously. Sebastian isn't sure what he's doing until he hears the first few notes, and while he was never a fan of Disney princesses as a kid, he recognizes the song immediately.

"I can show you the world," Reinhart starts to sing, and most of the team joins in on the second line. Only Crosby and Bobrovsky are holding out, but by the time the chorus kicks in, even they contribute. 

Teuvo grabs Sebastian's hand, as if he knows what he's going to do, and Sebastian lets go silently. He doesn't want to leave Teuvo, not really, but this isn't his Teuvo. Bringing him onto the carpet with him would be risking taking him back to a world which isn't his, and Sebastian's already had enough complicated multiverse drama for a lifetime. 

This is, of course, assuming that the magic carpet actually takes him back to his own world rather than merely fixing the time resetting feature on the locker room doors or something. He doesn't really have any evidence to support the feeling, but still, somehow, Sebastian is sure that this will work.

"Things will be back to normal soon," he says as he begins to climb onto the carpet. His teammates are still singing, but Teuvo's quiet, listening. "I love you," Sebastian adds. It's not exactly true of this Teuvo, but it is true - in a sense, anyway - and it's well worth the smile he receives.

As the carpet ascends higher and higher in the locker room, Sebastian wonders if he'll ever get to see his own Teuvo smile like that just by saying three simple words. The ceiling disappears, and at this point, Sebastian isn't even fazed. He flies higher and higher, without doing anything to control the magic carpet, and as he begins flying faster, the wind whipping his hair behind him, he knows that there's only one way to find out.

-

The magic carpet eventually starts going fast enough that Sebastian blacks out, or at least, that's the explanation he comes up with when he comes to outside Teuvo's front door. He's standing, hand poised and ready to knock, so he knows the whole thing couldn't have been a dream. 

Sebastian thinks about knocking - he doesn't remember getting here, but it's clearly what he'd been planning on doing - but before he can, the door opens to reveal Teuvo.

"Oh, hey," Teuvo says. "I was just heading out, but, were you going to come over?"

"Yeah," Sebastian says, because he can tell that this is his Teuvo and this is just what they do.

"FIFA or Fortnite?" Teuvo asks, moving aside to let Sebastian in. He starts to think about it, but as he closes the door behind him and feels the slight rush of air, he thinks back to the magic carpet ride and thinks that maybe it's time to be brave. Not like Jasmine or Aladdin or the captain of the Aho New World Hockey Club, though - like the lion on his Leijonat jersey, or - well - Sebastian Aho, center and rising young star of the Carolina Hurricanes. 

"Actually," he starts, bringing a hand up to play with his hair. He hasn't thought this through, really, and it's already more complicated than he likes his social interactions to be. "Can we talk?"

"Yeah, of course," Teuvo says. "Everything okay?"

Sebastian takes a deep breath, starting to run through what he wants to say. Is he going to tell Teuvo everything, or just ask him out? Would Teuvo even believe him? What if he says no?

"Sepe?"

"I - uh - do you have plans? This weekend?" It's nowhere near the most eloquent way to ask someone out, especially when Sebastian really doesn’t even know if Teuvo likes guys, but he can't just walk out and turn back time, so it'll have to do.

"We have a game Friday and Sunday," Teuvo says, completely missing the point. Which, Sebastian thinks, is probably fair, considering that the question was far too vague.

"I mean, uh, do you want to maybe spend Saturday with me? As a date, that is," he says, heart racing as he realizes that there's no turning back now.

"A date?" Teuvo asks, and Sebastian stares resolutely at the wall.

"Uh. Yeah." 

"I didn't - I mean, I really wasn't… expecting this," he says, and Sebastian really wishes he would just give him an actual answer. "I thought you - well, never mind, just - yes, yes, I'd love to."

"Wait, really?" Sebastian asks.

"Yes, really, I've been wanting this for - I don't know how long, but a while," Teuvo says, and Sebastian finally looks away from the wall to see that he's blushing and smiling almost as wide as the other Teuvo had when Sebastian had said those three words earlier.

As it turns out, it is possible to make his Teuvo smile like that, and if he's already done it once, well, it seems pretty likely he'll get to do it again.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to come talk to and/or follow me on [tumblr](http://www.cjmasim.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> Kudos and comments always appreciated <3


End file.
